Faida Hamdi

Faida Hamdi (1966-) was a Tunisian policewoman whose humiliation of Mohamed Bouazizi led to his self-immolation and the start of the Arab Spring protests.

Biography
Faida Hamdi was born in 1966, and she entered the municipal police force of Sidi Bou Zid in Tunisia despite being a Muslim woman. On 17 December 2010, she harassed street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi after he did not have a vending license or enough money to bribe the police, and she allegedly spat on him, slapped him, and insulted his dead father. She also confiscated his weighing scales and ruined his produce cart, and her aides beat him up as they left. In response, Bouazizi committed suicide publicly through self-immolation, and his death would set up the Arab Spring; she had inadvertently set off several revolutions across the Arab World.